So I'm in Wally World and I find these little minnows about an inch long with jig heads. I try them out with out the heads and boom. Crappie. Now the little minnows are worn out and I don't want to buy the whole jig set for just two minnows. Does anyone know where I can find the photo etched perch minnows you see in these sets?

Dble Haul

06-24-2003, 08:01 AM

I'm not sure where you can find what you're looking for without the heads, but I'll let you in on a little secret....a deep rabbit candy of the appropriate size will fish just as well, and is much more durable. It can take a ton of punishment and hold up to the fish.

I assume you're fishing these plastic baits weightless with a flyrod? If so, the weight of the deep candy will get the fly down to crappie much better.

Morania

06-24-2003, 08:40 AM

You lost me at "rabbit candy". We have another word for it but I don't we're talking about the same thing. I'm not up on all my lures and materials yet.

I had pretty good luck with some ultra soft chartreuse wigglers and lightning tubes, both from Wal Mart. I really could use some Clouser minnows but in a size 8. The thing about those rubber minnows I love so much is the crappie tempting quality of them. Bream are hitting the other items but not the crappie.

Morania

06-24-2003, 08:42 AM

There isn't much "down to the crappie" here. They're hanging out around the cypress knees in about 18 -24 inches of water at best. I always imagined them as lake dwellers but here they are.

BigDave

06-24-2003, 08:54 AM

Are you flyfishing, dude?

Dble Haul

06-24-2003, 08:57 AM

If you have a copy of Pop Fleyes then you'll know what a rabbit candy is. It's an epoxy fly using super hair and a zonker strip.....if the crappie are that shallow, then there's no need for a deep rabbit candy. Just a rabbit candy.

Check out the warmwater archive of patterns. There's a yellow rabbit candy that I put in there sometime last year. It will give you an idea of what I'm talking about. The zonker tail shimmies just like a soft plastic jig.

Though I'm not a fan of mass produced fly's, the Orvis shop down here in New Orleans carries a epoxy minow that might do the trick. It's pretty popular amoung the local panfish fly casters.
I also tie a simular, but not exactly, pattern using 30lb mono, crystal flash, and epoxy. Just layer the hook with mono (using mono thread), tie in flash to give color pattern desired, coat with epoxy, and pinch the barb. I add small bead eye's for weight. This works great and is nearly indestructable!
The image is the Jannsen Minnow...